PR 

5493 

.LT 




TEVENSON 

JlND 

MARGARITA 




y 



WILL H.LOW 





Class __. 



Book . I ..T 

Gopyriglit^i? 



COPXRIGHT DEPOSm 



STEVENSON AND MARGARITA 



HOSK-I hg- 




Stevenson and 
Margarita 



By 

Will H. Low 



H^ith an aching by 
Arthur S. HasHne 




THE MAYFLOWER PRESS 

NEW ROCHELLE, NEAV YORK 

MCMXXII 






JUL 3! 1922 



Copyright, 1922 by 
The Mayflower Press 



©CI.Ai;81154 



T/^IRGIL oj prose! Jar distant is the day 
r When at the mention of your heartfelt name 
Shall shake the head, and men, oblivious, say: 
'We know him not, this master, nor his fame.' 
Not for so swif t forgetf nines s you wrought. 
Day upon day, with rapt fastidious pen. 
Turning, like precious stones, with anxious thought. 
This word and that again and yet again. 
Seeking to match its meaning with the world; 
Nor to the morning stars gave ears attent. 
That you, indeed, might ever dare to be 
With other praise than immortality 
Unworthily content. 



Not while a boy still whistles on the earth. 

Not while a single human heart beats true. 

Not while Love lasts, and Honour, and the Brave, 

Has earth a grave, 

well-beloved, for you! 

From Robert Louis Stevenson: An Elegy. 
By Richard Le Gallienne 



[^1 



Foreword 

A compelling and satisfactory biography of 
Robert Louis Stevenson is wholly a matter of 
the future. The figure we see in the pages of 
Mr. Balfour's two volumes is not the person of 
our imaginations, — not all that we have pictured 
of a personaUty at once so human and so lovable 
as dear R. L. S. must have been. Mr. Balfour 
has succeeded somewhat in giving us the proto- 
type of a literary gentleman quite politely 
staged; we ask for a fuller drama, we want the 
many-sided man; and, somehow, we suspect that 
Stevenson was all that. 

It was Henley who described him as 

"Valiant in velvety light in ragged luck, 
Most vain, most generous, sternly critical, 
Buffoon and poet, lover and sensualist: 
A deal of Ariel, just a streak of Puck, 
Much Antony, of Hamlet most of all. 
And something of the Shorter-Catechist. — " 

Surely such a character is worthy of his Lockhart 
or his Boswell. 

Up to the present moment the best portrait of 
R. L. S. may be secured from his "Letters." 
And while, as an amazing body of literature 
these stand nobly alone, we, in our Gargantuan 
moods, still demand fuller particulars. 

17] 



Foreword 

Here and there among frail pages of reminis- 
cences and from stray articles and odd volumes, 
we have intercepted paragraphs which have 
given us delightfully refreshing and human 
phases of Stevenson's checkered existence — 
added glimpses of the man not on dress parade: 
and we have half a notion that a distinct genius 
for such matters will feel the urge to weave these 
rare threads into a complete and definitive de- 
sign, which will present the ultimate portrait in 
all its complexity. In all our several literatures 
we have hardly a more captivating figure. 

There is one book in especial to which we may 
turn for one of those illuminating shafts thrown 
conspicuously upon our writer, and that volume 
is none other than one referred to by Steven- 
son's able son-in-law. Mr. Lloyd Osborne says 
in part: 

"It is a pleasure to praise Will Low's *A Chron- 
icle of Friendships,' in which, in my opinion, 
Stevenson is more illuminatingly revealed 
than in anything ever written of him. Here 
is the true Stevenson — the Stevenson I would 
fain have the reader know and take to his 
heart — boyish, gay, and of all things approach- 
able to the poorest and shabbiest; a man bub- 
bling over with talk and no less eager to listen; 



Foreword 

a man radiating human kindness and good 
will, in whom the gift of genius had not 
displaced the most winning, the most lovable 
of personal qualities." 

Here is appreciation, indeed. And, further- 
more, the statement furnishes a background for 
the whimsical tale recounted herein, and which 
first appeared in Mr. Christopher Morley's 
column, 'The Bowling Green." Mr. Will Low 
has consented to let us salvage this delectable 
bit and preserve it in separate form for those 
who follow with unceasing interest the ever-allur- 
ing Stevenson myth. Mr. Low assures us that 
Mr. Morley furnished the title, which, in itself, 
has a distinct verve, — at least to the point of 
piquing our curiosity. And while Stevenson 
may or may not have had several love affairs, 
the amorous slant of this particular tale is far 
removed from Aphrodite's realm. 

It seems almost needless to state that our 
thanks are due to both Mr. Low and Mr. Morley 
for allowing us to reprint the tale, and also to 
Mr. C. B. Gilbert for his Villon-like ballade. 

Arthur N. Hosking 



j:9] 



Ballade de la Fumee 

yt PIPE and a book at the close of the day^ 
-^^ After the tumult and shouting are through! 
There, mon ami, is an excellent way 

Solid enjoyment to find, voyez vous ! 
If you re a reader of Stevetiso7J too 

{If you are not — well, I hope that you choke!) 
Doubtless you ve wondered, as smoke rings you blew. 

What kind of tobacco did Stevenson smoke? 

Think you 'twas shag that he crammed in his clay. 

Briar, or meerschaum of glorious hue? 
{Shag e'er made fit Sherlock Holmes for the fray — 

Helped him unravel the mystical clue). 
Was it from ''Gold Leaf" contentment he drew? 

Or ''Medium," or "Tawny" he'd use to invoke 
Clio, Melpomene, and all their crew? 

What kind of tobacco did Stevenson smoke? 

Was it "Waverly Mixture" he used to allay 

Nerves that were frazzled and temper askew. 
Or "Thick Twist," or "Three Men"? 'Tis like that he may 

Have smoked some of these — there are 'many that do. 
Could it be "Dog's Wool" he packed in his flue. 

Or "Latakia" {if under the yoke 
Of Turkish he bowed)? . . . What a theme to pursue! 

What kind of tobacco did Stevenson smoke? 

L' Envoi 

Prince I am putting the question to you: 

Dites-moi, s'il vous plait — grant your jester his joke — 
Would you give up your brand to smoke his, if you knew 

What kind of tobacco did Stevenson smoke? 

C. B. Gilbert. 



^11] 



STEVENSON AND MARGARITA 

A Love Story 

By 
Will H. Low 

AMONG the few fine things remaining in this 
^ topsy-turvy world of ours; amidst the 
barbed wire entanglements not yet cleared 
away, where we carry on as best we may; over 
the trenches in whose depths so much that was 
esteemed precious has been buried, and in whose 
digging so many strange things have been 
brought to light; is the sustained interest in all 
that R. L. S. was, said, did, or wrote! And now 
The Bowling Green brings up the question of the 
kind of tobacco he used. Well, that depends. 
In those early days when with his cousin Bob he 
trod the Lothian way, and explored all the nooks 
and corners of his native Edinburgh, he probably 
smoked shag, or whatever came his way and was 
cheapest. And he probably consumed it in a 
pipe, for even as he sailed av^^ay from Antwerp 
on the "Inland Voyage," never having been in a 
sailing canoe before, he tied his sheet and lighted 
his pipe! 

&13] 



Stevenson and Margarita 

But I never remember having seen him with a 
pipe; the cigarette triumphed, and in the early 
days at Barbizon, Grez, or Paris, he paid duty 
to the Government monopoly, and smoked the 
tabac de la regie, as we all did. It's a fine honest 
smoke, whether bought at deux sous d Jumer 
from the lady who dips her fingers into the recep- 
tacle sunken in the counter behind which she 
sits, extracts and weighs the exact amount pur- 
chasable for two sous, twists it deftly into a cor- 
net of paper and presents it with a smile and a 
''Voild Monsieur;" or bought, by the more 
affluent, by the package as simple Caporal at 
ten sous, Maryland or Scaferlati superieure at 
twelve or sixteen. "Rank!" I have heard re- 
turned members of the A. E. F. characterize it, 
wedded as they are to the strange compounds of 
glycerinized beflavored alfalfa rife upon our 
market; of which the law of libel forbids speci- 
fication. 

In the CaHfornia sojourn in 1880 I know not 
what R. L. S. smoked, "Mrs. Miller's Own" per- 
haps, if there was nothing cheaper; but, in the 
unforgetable fortnight he passed under my roof 
in the rue Vernier, Paris, in '86, I think he fell 
back as easily into the habit of using the French 
tobacco, furnished by the house, as he did into 

[14J 



Stevenson an^ Margarita 

all the intimacies we resumed after eight years 
of separation. Upon his second arrival in this 
country in '87, however, I undertook a severe 
though kindly received supervision of his smok- 
ing habit. The limited supply of tobacco 
brought from England had been nearly exhausted 
by the prolonged voyage of the Ludgate Hill^ and 
there were three votaries of the cigarette, R.L.S., 
his wife, and the, somewhat to my surprise since 
the days of Grez, sufficiently-grown-up-to-smoke 
Lloyd Osbourne. Of course then as now the 
French tabac de la regie was procurable with a 
little trouble, but, like many other delights of 
that dear land, its tobacco in our clear dry clim- 
ate loses something of its savor. And so, soon 
after my return from my student days in France, 
in 1878, I had discovered a tobacco of my own. 
It was in exploring Broadway, then little changed 
during my five years of absence, that I chanced 
into a store nearly opposite the Post Office: that 
monument of mid-republican architecture, even 
then a blot upon the city-scape, and only now 
after many years threatened with destruction. 
The shop was a large fine emporium dedicated 
to the smoker, kept by one John Blakely. Ex- 
plaining with some particularity my desires, Mr. 
Blakely opined that a blend of tobaccos of his 
own mixing would satisfy my craving. This 

115] 



Stevenson and Margarita 

mixture, of good Virginia, a little Turkish, and a 
trace of Perique, after a short trial pleased me, 
and on subsequent visits to the tobacconist I 
inquired why having taken the trouble to put 
it up in tins and bestow the melodious name of 
Margarita upon it, he had taken no steps to ad- 
vertise its merits or place it on sale elsewhere. 
He made answer that upon itsmerits alone a wide 
distribution had resulted, many tins of it find- 
ing appreciation as far as away as Australia or 
New Zealand. This statement I would not 
doubt, but nearer home, in a subsequent faith- 
ful adherence to this blend for thirty years or 
more, I never met one who knew or used Mar- 
garita, beyond the comparatively few who had 
adopted it upon my enthusiastic recommenda- 
tion. 

:^ ^ 

When the Stevensons came to port a new field 
of missionary endeavor was opened, to which for 
a time at least they succumbed. A supply of 
Margarita went with them to Saranac, whence, 
some time after, came this characteristic wail, 
which I copy horn. A Chronicle of Friendships, 2is,\t 
does not appear in the more official Letters: 

Sir, since 2 P. M. yesterday, a period of near- 
ly eighteen hours, the wretched man who 

[16J 



Stevenson ano Margarita 

now addresses you has not smoked. The 
same length of time has elapsed since the 
high-bred Lloyd Osbourne has Broken To- 
bacco. The famine has passed through all 
the usual stages; tissue paper from between 
visiting cards and 'baccy from the bottom 
of pockets having been consumed; but now, 
sir, the last 'ope has waltzed into space, 
and neither Osbourne nor myself can blink 
the- conviction that 

H'all is over, 

Farewell. 
When our memorial notices are written this 
will be a shrewd cut at the States, under 
whose banner we perish. Well, I am done 
with the passions of mortality — Farewell! 
but if a tin of Margarita and a mass of cigar- 
ette papers came by post, without prejudice 
to another tin in the general packet, it would 
not find me alive of course but it might be 
handy to my executors. Sir, Yours, 

R. L. S. 
Tins of Margarita followed, and if I remember 
rightly, some quantity of it figured among the 
ship stores which I saw R. L. S. eagerly draw up, 
review, revise, and constantly add to, the follow- 
ing spring at Manasquan, for the prospective 
provisioning of the Casco. Yes, Margarita was 

;i7] 



Stevenson and Margarita 

the only brand of tobacco which Stevenson cele- 
brated in such touching terms; and when one 
reflects on the far-reaching result of the mention 
of another brand, in My Lady Nicotine^ it will be 
seen that the eventual fate of Margarita might 
have been avoided had this commendation been 
given to the public in time. 

For a year or two after, following a sojourn of 
some months abroad, I sought the abiding place 
of Margarita with a view of renewing my allegi- 
ance, only to find the shop vanished and to learn 
of the death of its proprietor. Some time passed 
when I, still mourning the lost Margarita^ passing 
through one of the down-town streets leading off 
Broadway, saw the name Blakely emblazoned on 
the window of a tobacconist. I entered, found 
a son of the father, learned that he still put up 
Margarita^ heard of its (her?) voyaging to far off 
climes once more, while still clinging to an aver- 
sion to publicity. 

To shorten a story which has strayed far 
from that of R. L. S., the time came when 
the abode of Margarita was absorbed in a 
great chain of cigar stores. Still, no longer 
young, Margarita clung to her home, and the 
blended tobacco bearing her name could not be 

[18]- 



Stevenson ANb Margarita 

found elsewhere, all other stores of the chain dis- 
claiming knowledge of her identity. Then came 
the World War, but Margarita was still to be 
found at the one and only store by — perhaps — 
her one and only admirer. Finally we entered 
the war, and then, late in 19 17, came the an- 
nouncement that the entire output of the factory 
where this unique tobacco was blended was to 
be taken over by the United States Government 
for the benefit of our army overseas. 

I trust that Margarita had her part in the vic- 
tory: but since then, through these halcyon days 
of peace, her soothing presence has been sought 
in vain. A total disappearance of the elusive 
brand is probable, a vanishing in smoke — per- 
haps in that of battle — which will be mourned by 
those admirers in the Antipodes as it is, most 
sincerely, by one here. It is only a partial con- 
solation for the renunciation of one of the pleas- 
ures of a somewhat prolonged youth to have 
found another likable tobacco, of a more manly 
name, that, grown, manufactured, and packed 
in this country, is then sent abroad, to return 
here, where, after some coquetting with a pro- 
tective tariff, it can be procured. But Margarita 
was once esteemed by R. L. S. and the long line 

1^9] 



Stevenson aNd Margarita 

of markings on the mantel-shelf in the Baker 
cottage at Saranac Lake, the house which a band 
of pious admirers seeks to preserve as a memorial 
to the much-loved Louis, were undoubtedly made 
by the slowly extinguishing shreds of the blended 
Margarita. 

For the cigarette served as a punctuation mark 
to the talk of R. L. S., or the pause in the research 
of his phrase as he wrote. And the question 
of his preference for any tobacco must also con- 
sider the extreme attenuation of his cigarette; a 
few shreds of the soothing herb rolled almost to 
the diameter of twine in a wisp of rice paper. 
These, consumed in a few moments, afforded the 
delicate hands a continuous task, a momentary 
and beneficent putting on the brakes to the swift 
movement of the "machine" that from the In- 
land Voyage by enchanted ways brought us to 
JVeir of Hermiston. 



[20.] 



YJTERE THEN ENDS STEVENSON AND MARGARITA A LOVE 
Jrt STORY BY fVILL H. LOfV DONE INTO TYPE BY 
CHARLES P. ADAMS FOR THE MAYFLOWER PRESS OF NEW 
ROCHELLE NEW YORK ANNO DOMINI MCMXXII THIS 
EDITION CONSISTS OF TWO HUNDRED COPIES NUMBERED 
FOR SALE AND TEN COPIES FOR GIFT PURPOSES EACH 
BOOK CONTAINS TWO COPIES OF AN ETCHED PORTRAIT OF 
ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON BY ARTHUR N. HOSKING ONE 
COPT IS BOUND IN AS A FRONTISPIECE AND THE OTHER 
PULLED ON LARGE PAPER IS INTENDED FOR FRAMING 



THIS COPY IS NUMBER 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper proces 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: May 2009 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN COLLECTIONS PRESERVATIOl 

111 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 16066 




014 545 965 5 



